The disclosure of copending U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,738 to Jay Hamlin, et al. for Interactive Color Harmonizing Methods and Systems is adopted herein in its entirety.
Computerized color selection, display and editing systems are well developed in the art. Thus, computer systems are known that provide generally for coloring and editing color images by interactive selection and substitution of colors being displayed in images one at a time while being monitored visually by a computer operator. Examples of these are: A. P. Gabor, U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,407 issued Apr. 7, 1992 for Apparatus and Method for Color Selection and H. Okawara, et, al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,678 issued May 31, 1994 for Method of Changing Color of Displayed Images by Use of Color Components. The Hamlin, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,738 has extended that art by introducing methods of processing several colors in unison.
Colors are commonly- synthesized -for color reproduction by instruments having unique color gamuts based upon a set of color coordinates comprising various combinations of basic colors. For example, the well known three color RGB system is commonly employed for reproduction of a gamut of colors on computer and television monitors. A gamut of reproducible colors substantially encompassing a visual color spectrum thus may be generated from the additive color emission characteristic of corresponding RGB phosphors. Similarly a CYMB color system is used for subtractive color characteristics in color printer output systems.
Hues are defined quantitatively by frequency and constitute attributes of color but are not to be confused with colors. Colors vary visually with black and white content. Even dilution from white "noise" such as may be present in a printed white paper sheet or in a phosphor screen color reproducer can effect changes of color, therefore. Thus, for example the colors pink and red may have a common hue, but pastel pink has a greater white constituency. Also, the nature of the prior art is that individual colors of existing color images may be subjectively modified by the personal choice of artists or intermediate computer technicians who prefer to modify coloring to subjective tastes, and further coloring may be contaminated from deterioration of colors incurred in various processing systems. Accordingly, it has been difficult in the computer arts to process and reproduce color artistry faithfully with standardized colors.
The Ostwald color reference system attempts to standardize colors by defining and, processing colors referenced to a comprehensive set of eight to twenty four standardized hue sample steps arranged in a spectrum array such as a color wheel. However, colors are defined by both their hue and black-white constituents. Accordingly the Ostwald system displays a set of colors for each hue, which colors include a range of white and black content. Such "Ostwald" colors are adopted in the Hamlin, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,738 system for computerized processing with visual reproduction of colors and color images on computer monitors. More explicitly, coordinated changes of several colors are converted simultaneously to different color combinations by mass rotation of corresponding hues about a multiple step Ostwald hue spectrum wheel. In the Hamlin, et al. patent, all of the hues were rotated and were kept separated the same number of steps apart about the spectrum wheel to preserve color harmony.
It has been a serious problem in prior art color computer processing that initial color creations of artists on a given color gamut are distorted by color compression or expansion over portions of the color spectrum when reproduced in another color gamut such as for a color printer. Thus, a standard set of color samples may not be proportionately distributed in the two color gamuts. Thus processing on a RGB phosphor monitor color gamut, where a set of color samples (standards) are proportionately spaced, will not assure proportionate spacing of colors when reproduced on printers or other systems having different color gamuts.
Furthermore, prior art interactive color processing by user/artists on personal computers involves myriads of tedious and precise operator induced manual steps, thus making likely operator neglect, fatigue or error and certainly distracting the artist from creative coloring procedure. Thus even the true colors of an original artistic creation may deteriorate during such computer processing. Accordingly there is a need for a computer system that is artist friendly, thereby encouraging artistic creativity.
Also to assure faithful rendering of artistic creations, there is a need for development of standardized color collections or samples with colors proportioned over a given color gamut that may be created and controlled with computerized systems and methods for faithful reproduction with similarly proportioned color samples over another color gamut.
Also in the aforesaid "Ostwald" color control system of the Hamlin, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,738, which controls the brightness or darkness along with the hue, thereby establishing definable standardized colors, there is no provision to process value. The value parameter is associated with the lightness/darkness attribute of each color apart from the color itself, for example the reproducible characteristics on a black-white print of a colored image. The value parameter thus supplements the "Ostwald" hue and black-white color constituents to define a feature of each color sample in the present invention.
Thus it is an objective of this invention to provide for color processing of a more comprehensive standardized collection of color samples in an abstract color operating system that is computer friendly and assures faithful storage, processing and reproduction of colored images without undesired mutation by interactive processing or distortion when reproduced in a different color gamut than that of the computer visual monitor upon which an image is colored by the artist.
The prior computerized coloring art is also deficient in providing the artist creator a way to develop color images with considerable aid and little interruption to the primary act of creative coloring of images. There is in essence so much tediousness and detail in computerized coloring of an image having complex combinations of colors, and in choosing compatible and artistic combinations of colors that the creativity of the artist is apt to be lost in the process when attention need be directed primarily to computer processing details. Thus, less extensive interactive routines are desirable for incorporating, viewing and comparing color changes in the development of colored images. A system is desired such that an artistic user may color images in the way a painter might use auxiliary sketches, and might make color observations by mixing just the right pigments to derive that desired color for a painting.
Accordingly it is an objective of this invention to provide a color engine that makes it simpler for the artist to make visual comparisons and selections of colors and combinations of colors, thereby providing automated routines for producing and editing color images without significant tedium and diversion.
Another prior art coloring deficiency is incurred when processing text set forth by the contrasts of two colors, since that contrast may change drastically when the colors involved in the lettering are changed. Thus should a combination of colors that includes text be rotated about an Ostwald hue wheel and a corresponding new combination of colors is created, the same text legibility is apt to be lost.
Accordingly a further objective of this invention is to provide improved color processing apparatus with apparatus and methods for automated control of the legibility of lettering portrayed by two colors when the colors are changed.
For viewing on different output devices having differing color gamuts, algorithmic adjustments have been made in prior art systems to adjust coloring. However, different gamuts do not assure that colors are proportionately located within diverse color gamuts thus avoiding color distortion by compression or expansion in portions of the visible color spectrum.
Therefore, it is a general object of this invention to provide color control apparatus and methods for processing standard color collections in a manner that those standards are proportionately distributed in different color gamuts.
Furthermore it is a general object to provide color processing systems having comprehensive automation procedures for enhancing the interactive creativity phases of coloring images and editing color images, thereby to eliminate tedium and fatigue of an interactive operator. In particular the elimination of many interactive manual coloring step details for making simultaneous color changes of groups of colors is an objective. A still further objective is to provide automatically dynamic color linkage frames between images of different color in dynamic sequences of colored images.
For example, automatic color changes are made feasible in the processing of dynamic color transitions between two significantly different colors of a moving image for a cartoon or moving picture. Thus, typical dynamic scenes such as ripening of cherries, require corresponding color changes from green through yellow to a dark red. Typically visible color jumps are noticeable in the transition from one color to another. Color discontinuities are visible in prior art fading process which passes through a gray color. The prior art does not afford automated interactively controlled system techniques for processing seamless intermediate color changes linking two different colors.
Another prior art problem is that color processing is so complicated that visual reference systems for monitoring coloring functions in process are inadequate. This is the case particularly when simultaneous changes occur with groups of colors.
Computerized coloring systems of the prior art are not generally capable of compactly storing, indexing and recalling for viewing and adoption catalogs of creative color combinations adaptable for color changes to facilitate automated coloring of live images.
A more general objective of this invention is to correct the foregoing problems and to provide improved comprehensive color processing methods and systems that will simplify coloring procedures and produce colored images that may be simply stored and recalled for visual monitoring and faithful color reproduction.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be found throughout the following description, drawings and claims.